[gentoo-user] Simply approach:: Re: The war continues.

[James <wireless@tampabay.rr.com>]

Alan Grimes <ALONZOTG <at> verizon.net> writes:
 
> My effort to update my syestem continues unabated. =\


I've had a few F'ers in my years of gentoo....

> One problem is that every time revdep-rebuild is run, it always rebuilds
> all of libreoffice, an 8-hour build. WTF, seriously, WTF?

No one tool or one single approach is fool_proof with gentoo.


> I made the mistake of syncing portage again and was thrown back into
> useflag hell:

OK, not syncing may be the best option, but not if you've getting some
corrupt packages. (checksums?)

> I tried to fix it by setting wayland, gles2 and egl to default because
> they were breaking other packages.

OK, since you are the "major surgery point" here is what I suggest.
Copy your /var/lib/portage/world file someplace for safe keeping.

Eliminate all packages that cause you any problems, unless they are critical
@system packages or fundamental to your desktop. If they bark, emerge -C
those complainers, until you can get a stable system. If you have other
gentoo systems, distcc can be your friend. If not, then it takes longer.

 
> I don't even know how to read the current error message:


use 'elogv' to see the error messages in addition to the log files. You do
have make.conf configured to save log files, right?

Also the 'q' applets, a collection of c admin code with vapier's paw_prints
all over them, are excellent and more commonly  know as portage-utils ::
make sure you have them install and have tried out the ones that are
useful for diagnosing your issues. (q --help) for a quick reference.


So, by drastically pruning the system, WE can focus on those error messages,
on your critical system needs. Once that is stable, then add back the
complaining packages, one at a time, perhaps overnight on a long update.
 This is the semantics I use to fix severely borked systems. You run gentoo
long enough, and experiment you are going to bork a few systems. It's kind
of a 'badge of honor' with gentoo, so relax and enjoy the ride. Perhaps a
tasty beverage, pleasing to your palette would allow you to calm down a bit?


h